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Climate Change’s Greater Impact on Lower Income Populations

Use this article from Climate Central to explore how climate change has a greater impact on lower income and ethnically diverse populations—the climate gap. Students can use this informational text as a starting point to compare and contrast how different communities are disproportionally impacted by climate change and examine different approaches to mitigating the impact of climate change.

Thinking Map: Exploring Stories ofCommunities Disproportionally Impacted by Climate Change After reading this article about climate change and East Boston, students can conduct research to find more information about another community disproportionally impacted by climate change, including their demographics, how they are disproportionally impacted by climate change, and how they are responding as a community. Using the Thinking Map: Exploring Stories of Communities Disproportionally Impacted by Climate Change handout, students can compare and contrast the story of their selected community with that of East Boston.

Students can use the Clue into Climate and Climate Literacy collections for background on the science behind climate change. Below are some pointers that can help guide students’ research processes:

Since East Boston is an urban community, do you want to examine a rural community? What might be the similarities or differences between how an urban community vs. a rural community is impacted by climate change?

What are some of the economically disadvantaged, immigrant, or ethnically diverse communities in your area that might be disproportionally impacted by climate change?

How is the community you selected vulnerable to climate change?

Compare the community you selected to a nearby community, if you are having difficulty determining how it is disproportionally impacted by climate change.

Why might Margaret Orzco worry about the water if the weather is changing a lot? Remember East Boston is surrounded on three sides by water.

Explain at least two ways the community in East Boston is more vulnerable to climate damage than higher income, less diverse communities?

How are government and community organizations trying to protect lower income, racially diverse communities from climate change?

Critical Thinking Questions

Why are government organizations like the State of California and the City of Boston focusing on protecting lower income communities from climate change? How does protecting those communities benefit the state or city as a whole?

Based on what you read in the article, why might the United Church of Christ focus their efforts combating climate change on asking people to change their personal habits related to fossil fuels and to demand action from their public officials? Why might they think those are the two most impactful messages they can promote?

In the article Jacqui Patterson, the director of the NAACP Environment and Climate Change Justice Program, says that “the impacts of climate change are entwined with class, race, lack of political clout and economic disruption when polluting industries close.” Do you agree with her statement? Support your argument with specific examples from the text, or your local community.

Benefits of Action on Climate Change When discussing climate change, it is important to emphasize the potential to mitigate its impact. The challenges of climate change can seem overwhelming and it is important to keep sight of how individuals can make a difference. Begin by discussing how the action items in the article will help lower income communities. Brainstorm about possible solutions to similar local challenges. Expand on the discussion by presenting some of the estimated benefits from the EPA’s Climate Change in the United States Benefits of Global Action Report. The report estimates the ways in which global greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation can save lives and money in the U.S.

Below are five estimated benefits cited in the report along with links to resources in this Climate Change: Understanding the Impact collection so you can follow up with your students.

Extreme Temperature: Reduction of GHG and working to lessen the impact of climate change can prevent 12,000 deaths from extreme temperature in 49 major U.S. cities by 2100. The resource Climate Change is Increasing the Urban Temperature Divide provides more information about extreme temperature and climate change.

Agriculture: Reduction of GHG and working to lessen the impact of climate change can save $6.6-$11 billion by avoiding agricultural damage by 2100. Have your students dig deeper into agriculture and climate change with the resource Agriculture and Climate Change.

Forestry: GHG mitigation can save $520 million to $1.5 billion by avoiding forestry damages by 2100. The resource Are Trees Renewable Resources? provides more information about forestry and climate change.

Vocabulary Class Disparity – lack of equality due to social, economic, or educational status. Climate Change – the large-scale, long-term shift of Earth's weather patterns and average temperatures, particularly from the mid to late 20th century and onwards. This change results in part, from greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. Climate Gap – a term used to describe the disproportionally larger impact climate change has on lower income and non-Caucasian populations. Disproportionate – something that is too large (or too small) when compared to a similar object, person, or event. Environmental Justice Movement – a movement that began in the 1980’s in which lower income, racially diverse communities protested being targeted by large industries for activities that damaged the environment. For example, the production, storage, and disposal of toxic chemicals. Those activities also produced high rates of environmental illness. Subsidized Housing – housing partially paid for by the government to provide decent and safe rental housing for low-income individuals, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. Vulnerable – able to be easily physically, emotionally, or financially hurt or influenced.